Rambling, rumbling, rumination

Quippy Quote

If the key to success in your game is tedious repetition, you are not a game designer. You are a torture expert.

-TPRJones

That sums up many of my concerns not only with WoW, crafting and MMOs in general, but also the recent “Facebook games” GDC kerfluffle. I’d add that “success in your business model” is another valid phrase to slot in there.

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9 Responses

It is a great quote :) And highlights one of the great puzzles of MMO type gaming — there are people who LOVE this type of gameplay.

I think it’s the MMO equivalent of knitting. You sit and do something non demanding to keep your hands busy while you’re chatting and eventually it turns into a pair of socks that don’t fit or something …

But in that sense, it’s actually quite a close approximation of RL crafting in some ways.

Spinks, I think it’s less about the mere existence of “gaming knitting” (a lovely and accurate metaphor), it’s more that such is the *key* to success in the game. I have absolutely no problem with the existence of mindless grinds. I like them sometimes, too, and you’re right, it’s pretty close to a lot of real world crafting.

It’s just… when such is the backbone of success in the game, that’s we run into soul-sucking torture.

Having just hit 80 (for the first time) this weekend, the PUGs I’ve been running have not been terribly repetitive. Even in my 70s when I’d find myself in an Instance I’d run several times already it still didn’t have a repetitive grinding feel to it. Because, unless you lucked out and got everything your Class can use on the first Run through, you can run the same Instance several times and get new Loot from it each time.

Of course there is also that the first Run is new & exciting, the second Run you know not to make the mistakes you made on the first, the third Run you have almost all the encounters down pat, while the fourth Run you now know it well enough that you can actually take the time to look around and notice “just what they’ve done with the place”. After that, yeah, I’ll admit, it’s probably going to start feeling like a grind.

This is where I think you company did a much better job with Outpost, as compared to Keflings. KfK kinda gets grindy at time. (Gather resources, build building, gather new resources, build new building) Outpost conversely, is a resource balancing act with (some degree) of choice.

WoW certainly suffers from this at many time, but I don’t feel like crafting is part of it. If you were to craft for the sake of it, it’s certainly repetitious, but if you play the AH as a game in and of itself, crafting it just a way to win.(Although I prefer to treat the AH like a commodities market)

And there is definitely something to be said for the mindless games. Sometimes, that all you want to do. For example, playing the newer X-Box Live game, Toy Soldiers. I have a lot of fun with the tower defense meets stationary FPS/Flight Sim. But sometimes I just don’t feel like playing the game because I don’t want that level of interaction. I want to make some choices, and watch what unfolds, while adjusting the choices. In the Toy Soldiers example, sometimes I just want to build towers, upgrade them, and make some strategery.

Don’t forget, lots of people(myself NOT included), knit for relaxation, some for fun, and some in competitive spirit.(Yes, I’ve seen a knitting contest advertised locally in the past)